Vice President's Remarks at a Bush-Cheney '04 Rally
Elko High School
Elko, Nevada

2:31 P.M. PDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you all very
much. Mr. Mayor, Congressman Jim. It's great to be back in Nevada,
and in the fine city of Elko. (Applause.) I was just in Reno about
two weeks ago, again with Jim Gibbons, speaking to the Disabled
Veterans of America. And I hear I'm the first sitting Vice President
to visit Elko in about 50 years. (Applause.) There are probably some
in the crowd who are glad that Vice Presidents don't show up more than
once every 50 years. (Laughter.) But those other Vice Presidents
missed out because Elko is beautiful place, a fantastic part of the
West, and by the looks of things today, it is Bush-Cheney country.
(Applause.)

In addition to your fine mayor and congressman, Nevada also has
superb leaders in Governor Kenny Guinn and Senator John Ensign. Kenny
and John couldn't be here today, but they're both doing outstanding
work for the people of Nevada. And it's also my great privilege to
bring greetings to everybody here in Elko from our President, George W.
Bush. (Applause.)

Now, Lynne talked about knowing me since I was 14 years old. The
truth is she didn't pay any attention to me until I was 17.
(Laughter.) In spite of concerted efforts on my part. (Laughter.)
But I love to tell a story about the fact that she and I got married
because Dwight Eisenhower got elected President. Yes, what's he
talking about now? (Laughter.) But in 1952, I was living in Lincoln,
Nebraska with my folks. Dad worked for the Soil Conservation Service.
And Eisenhower got elected and reorganized the Agriculture Department.
And Dad got transferred to Casper, Wyoming -- which is where I married
Lynne. And of course, we grew up together, went to high school
together, and we'll shortly celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.
(Applause.) But I explained to a group the other night that if it
hadn't been for Eisenhower's victory, Lynne would have married somebody
else. (Laughter.) And she said, right, and now he'd be Vice President
of the United States. (Laughter and applause.) No doubt in my mind.

The President and I are tremendously grateful for our many strong
supporters here in Nevada. We were proud to carry the state in 2000.
We're going to work hard again this year. And the President was in Las
Vegas just last Thursday. You'll be seeing plenty more of us this
year. We're going to be meeting people all over this state, and tell
you why we think the Bush-Cheney team deserves your vote. And come
November, with your help, Nevada is going to be part of a nationwide
victory for the Bush-Cheney ticket. (Applause.)

Now, some of you might have noticed there was a little political
gathering up in Boston here a couple weeks ago. Some people watched
it. But not many, that's right. (Laughter.) But it's now official --
it's now official, I have an opponent. (Laughter.) No, I really do.
I have an opponent. People keep telling me that Senator Edwards got
picked because he's sexy, good looking, charming, and has great hair.
(Laughter.) And I said, "How do you think I got the job?" (Laughter
and applause.)

The fact is, this is going to be an extraordinarily important year
from the standpoint of the election. It couldn't come at a more
crucial time in our history. Today we face an enemy every bit as
determined to destroy us as the Axis powers in World War II, or the
Soviet Union during the Cold War. This enemy, in the words of the 9/11
Commission report released recently, is "sophisticated, patient,
disciplined, and lethal." What the enemy wants, as the 9/11 report
explains, is to do away with democracy, to end all rights for women,
and to impose their way of life on the rest of us. And as we saw on
the morning of 9/11, this enemy is perfectly prepared to slaughter
anyone -- man, woman, or child -- who stands in the way.

This is not an enemy we can reason with, or negotiate with, or
appease. This is, to put it quite simply, an enemy that we must
destroy. (Applause.) And with President George Bush as our
Commander-in-Chief, that is exactly what we're going to do.
(Applause.)

In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on America, people in
every part of the country, regardless of party, took pride and comfort
in the conduct of our President. They saw a man calm in a crisis,
comfortable with responsibility, and determined to do everything
necessary to protect our people.

Under the President's leadership, we have driven the Taliban from
power in Afghanistan and closed down the camps where terrorists trained
to kill Americans. (Applause.) Under the President's leadership, we
rid the world of a gathering threat by eliminating the regime of Saddam
Hussein. (Applause.) Sixteen months ago, Saddam controlled the lives
and future of nearly 25 million people. Today, he's in jail.
(Applause.)

A year ago, Libya had a secret nuclear weapons program. But after
our coalition ousted Saddam Hussein, Libya's leader, Moammar Ghadafi,
had a change of heart. (Laughter.) He turned control of Libya's
program over to us, and today the uranium, the centrifuges, and the
designs for nuclear weapons are in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under American
lock and key. (Applause.)

We've also shut down the secret network that provided much of the
technology to Libya -- which was based in Pakistan that was the world's
most dangerous supplier -- that is the network was the world's most
dangerous supplier of illegal nuclear weapons technology. We've put
terrorist financers out of business, dismantled terrorist cells
worldwide. Most of the planners of the 9/11 attacks have been captured
or killed, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11.
(Applause.)

We could not have succeeded in these efforts, without the help of
dozens of countries around the world. Now, if you were to listen to
our opponents in this election, you would think that America was
fighting the war on terror alone. Nothing could be further from the
truth -- or more insulting to our allies. Terrorists have been killed
or captured because of the efforts of our partners in Pakistan and
Turkey, in Saudi Arabia, in Kenya and Malaysia. Even France and
Germany have had troops alongside ours in Afghanistan. Great Britain,
Australia, Italy, Poland, South Korea, Ukraine, Japan and more than 20
other nations have contributed troops to our operations in Iraq. As we
fight the global war on terror, we have the support of Canada and
Mexico, of Colombia, Jordan, and Morocco, of India, Paraguay, Denmark,
the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Algeria, Uzbekistan,
Egypt, Singapore, Russia - and the list of those who are joined with us
goes on and on. Remember this list -- remember how long it is -- the
next time you hear Senator Kerry say America does not have allies.
(Applause.)

We are proud of our allies' contributions. We will always seek
international support for international efforts, but as President Bush
has made clear, there is a difference between leading a coalition of
many nations and submitting to the objections of a few. We will never
seek a permission slip to defend the United States of America.
(Applause.)

Under the President's leadership, we have taken unprecedented steps
to protect the American people here at home. We passed the Patriot Act
to give law enforcement the tools they need to track down and convict
terrorists. We created the Department of Homeland Security to focus
the efforts of government on the mission of protecting the American
people. We passed Project BioShield to fund cutting edge drugs and
other defenses against a potential attack with biological weapons.

But a good defense is not enough, and so we have also gone on the
offense in the war on terror -- but the President's opponent, Senator
Kerry, seems to object. He has even said that by using our strength,
we are creating terrorists and placing ourselves in greater danger.
But that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the world we live
in works. Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength;
they are invited by the perception of weakness. (Applause.)

Senator Kerry has also said that if he were in charge he would
fight a "more sensitive" war on terror. (Laughter.) America has been
in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was ever
won by being "sensitive." (Applause.) President Abraham Lincoln and
General Grant did not wage sensitive wars. President Roosevelt and
Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur did not wage a sensitive war. A
"sensitive war" will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000
Americans on the morning of 9/11, and who now seek chemical, nuclear
and biological weapons to kill hundreds of thousands more. The men who
beheaded Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be impressed by our
sensitivity. (Applause.) As our opponents see it, the problem isn't
the thugs and the murderers we face, but it is somehow our attitude.
Well, the American people know better. They know that we are in a
fight to preserve our freedom and our way of life, and that we are on
the side of right and justice in this battle. Those who threaten us
and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more
sensitively. They need to be destroyed. (Applause.)

I listened to what Senator Kerry had to say in Boston, and, with
all due respect to the Senator, he views the world as if we had never
been attacked on September 11th. The job of the Commander-in-Chief, as
he sees it, is to use America's military strength to respond to
attacks. But September 11th showed us, as surely as anything can, that
we must act against gathering dangers -- not wait to be attacked.
(Applause.)

That awful day left some 3,000 of our fellow citizens dead, and
everything we have learned since tells us the terrorists would do worse
if they could, that they will use chemical, biological, or even nuclear
weapons against us of they can. In the world we live in now,
responding to attacks is not enough. We must do everything in our
power to prevent attacks, and that includes using military force.
(Applause.)

In his convention speech, Senator Kerry invited us to judge him by
his record, and that seems like a pretty good idea. (Applause.) As he
frequently reminds people, he was once a member of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, and what was his record there? Well, to begin
with, he did not even bother to show up for 75 percent of the
Intelligence Committee's public meetings. He also tried very hard, in
the aftermath of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center
in 1993, to gut the intelligence budget. He put forward two measures
to cut the intelligence budget by $7.5 billion. His first proposal was
voted down 75 to 20. Not even Senator Kerry -- excuse me -- not even
Senator Kennedy would vote for it. Sometimes I get them confused.
(Laughter and applause.) When he proposed his second bill, he was
unable to find a single co-sponsor for it. Less than one year after
the attack on the World Trade Center, Senator Kerry proposed
legislation so harmful to our intelligence capabilities -- so extreme
and so far out of the mainstream -- that even his fellow Democrats
refused to support it.

The Senator has taken lately to portray himself as a champion of
strengthening our intelligence, but looking at the record -- as he has
invited us to do -- paints a picture that ought to give us pause. The
American people deserve a Commander-in-Chief who truly understands the
need for intelligence capabilities, a leader who appreciates the vital
work done by the men and women of our nation's intelligence community.
They have had many successes that will forever go unheralded, and they
deserve our gratitude. (Applause.)

We also have important differences with the Kerry-Edwards record
when it comes to providing for our men and women in uniform. And
there's one story that makes that about as clear as anything could be.
It starts with Senators Kerry and Edwards voting yes when the President
asked the Congress to authorize the use of force against Saddam
Hussein. But then, when it came time to vote for funds that would
provide our fighting men and women with body armor, ammunition, jet
fuel, and spare parts, Senators Kerry and Edwards voted no. Only 12
members of the United States Senate opposed the funding that would
provide vital resources for the troops. Only four Senators voted for
the use of force and against the resources our men and women in uniform
needed once they were in combat. Only four. And Senators Kerry and
Edwards were two of those four.

At first Senator Kerry said that he didn't really oppose the
funding. He both supported and opposed it. He said, and I quote, "I
actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Well,
that certainly clears things up. (Laughter.) Lately he's been saying
he's proud that he and John Edwards voted no, and he explains that his
decision was "complicated." But funding American troops in combat
should never be a complicated question. (Applause.)

It's simply wrong to vote to commit our troops to combat and then
refuse to provide them with the resources they need. We need a
President who will back our troops 100 percent, and that's exactly what
we've got in George W. Bush. (Applause.)

President Bush knows that our dedicated servicemen and women
represent the very best of the United States of America. And I want to
thank them, as well as all the veterans here with us today for your
past service, and for what you've done for all of us. (Applause.)

One of the most important commitments that George W. Bush and I
made during the 2000 campaign was that our armed forces would be given
the resources they need and the respect they deserve, and we have kept
our word to the U.S. military. (Applause.)

These are not times for leaders who shift with the political winds,
saying one thing one day and another the next. Our country requires
strong and consistent leadership for our actions overseas, as well as
for our policies here at home. When President Bush and I stood on the
inaugural platform on the west side of the Capitol and took the oath of
office, the economy was sliding into recession. Then, on 9/11,
terrorists struck and shook our economy once again. We faced a basic
decision -- to leave more money with families and businesses, or to
take more of the American people's hard-earned money for the federal
government. President Bush made his choice. He proposed and he
delivered tax savings to the American people -- not once, not twice,
but three times. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Every American who pays federal income taxes
benefited from the Bush tax cuts - and so has our economy. For the
last 11 consecutive months, we've created jobs, and since last August
we've added about 1.5 million new jobs. Here in Nevada, more than
95,000 jobs have been created since January of '02. Your unemployment
rate is 4.2 percent, down from its peak of 6.6 percent two-and-a-half
years ago, and lower than Nevada's average rate in the 1980s and
1990s. Mortgage rates, and interest rates, and inflation are low.
Consumers are confident, businesses are investing, and families are
taking home more of what they earn. We know there are still
challenges, especially in our manufacturing communities. The President
and I will not be satisfied until every American who wants to work can
find a job. But this is a strong economy, and it's growing stronger.
The Bush tax cuts are working. (Applause.)

We've also acted to meet regional priorities. And here in Nevada,
one of your highest priorities is protecting forests and preventing
catastrophic wildfire. The President worked with legislators on both
sides of the aisle -- including both Senators from Nevada -- to pass a
responsible bill called Healthy Forests. By thinning out the forest
underbrush that damages trees and serves as kindling for fires, we are
improving the health of Nevada forests, and increasing the safety of
Nevada communities. (Applause.)

In our second term, we will keep moving forward with our
pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda. We will work to make the Bush tax cuts
permanent. (Applause.) We will work to help end lawsuit abuse because
we know that it's a lot easier for America's businesses to hire new
workers if they don't have to keep hiring lawyers. (Applause.)

We will work for medical liability reform. America's doctors
should be able to spend their time healing patients, not fighting off
frivolous lawsuits. (Applause.)

In our second term, we will continue to move forward on a
comprehensive energy policy to make this nation less dependent on
foreign sources of energy. (Applause.)

Our opponents have a very different vision for our country. They
talk about jobs, yet they never explain how they would put a single
American back to work. They opposed our tax relief, and now they're
proposing massive increases in federal spending. They helped block the
energy plan in the Senate. They oppose effective reform of our legal
system, and they're against medical liability reform. Their big idea
for the economy: raise your taxes.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: What we're hearing from the other side is the
failed thinking of the past, and we're not going back. (Applause.) Our
opponents also take a different view on the important issue of mining.
As Westerners, the President and I understand the importance of mining
to Nevada's economy, and to Nevada families. Over these past four
years, we've acted to put government decisively on the side of miners
in the Silver State. But just this week, the Junior Senator from
Massachusetts, that's Senator Kerr -- (Laughter) -- in case you didn't
know -- the Junior Senator from Massachusetts proposed having America's
miners send up to an additional $600 million to Washington. That
burden could cost up to 44,000 good paying jobs, and it would hit
especially hard in rural communities like Elko. In this election,
there's only one presidential candidate with a record and an agenda
that defend Nevada's miners, and that's President George W. Bush.
(Applause.)

President Bush and I will also continue to defend our society's
fundamental rights and values. We stand for a culture of life, and we
reject the brutal practice of partial birth abortion. (Applause.) We
stand strongly for the Second Amendment, and we will defend the
individual right of every American to bear arms. (Applause.) We
believe that our nation is "one nation under God." (Applause.) And we
believe that Americans ought to be able to say "under God" when they
pledge allegiance to their flag. (Applause.)

There shouldn't be any question about this, and there won't be if
we had more reasonable judges on the federal bench. (Applause.) But
we have a situation in the United States Senate now where Democrats --
including Senators Kerry and Edwards -- are using the filibuster to
block the President's mainstream nominations to the judiciary.
Recently, they used their obstructionist tactics to keep the Senate
from voting on four of the nominees that the President sent forward.
One of them was Bill Myers, a fine man with widespread bipartisan
support, a friend of mine from Boise, Idaho. He has support for his
personal integrity, his judicial temperament, and his legal
experience. If Bill Myers had made it to an up-or-down vote on the
Senate floor, he had the votes to be confirmed to the Ninth Circuit,
which, as you know, is the circuit that decided we should not say
"under God" when we pledge allegiance to the flag. Sounds to me like
they could use some new judges on the Ninth Circuit. (Applause.) This
is another good reason why Nevada should send another Republican like
John Ensign to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

On issue after issue, President Bush has a clear vision for the
future of our nation. Abroad, we'll use America's great power to serve
great purposes, to protect our homeland by turning back and defeating
the forces of terror, and to spread hope and freedom throughout the
world. Here at home, we will continue building prosperity that reaches
every corner of the land so that every child in America has a chance to
learn, to succeed, and to rise in the world.

The President and I are honored by your confidence in us, and by
your commitment to the cause we all share. We're grateful to our many
friends across the great state of Nevada. Thanks for the tremendous
welcome today. We're proud to have you on the team. And together, on
November 2nd, we're going to see our cause forward to victory.